Winter Solstice: Why It Is the Shortest Day of the Year
The shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere is the day of the December solstice. In 2026 the solstice happens at 20:50 UTC on Monday, December 21, so December 21 is the shortest day in London (7 hours 49 minutes of daylight) and New York (9 hours 15 minutes). South of the equator, the same moment brings the longest day.
What the winter solstice is
The solstice is not a whole day but an instant: the moment the Sun reaches its farthest point south in the sky over the year. At that moment the Sun stands directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, about 23.4 degrees south of the equator, because the Earth's axis is tilted by that much. The northern hemisphere is then leaning furthest away from the Sun, so the Sun climbs least high at noon and spends the fewest hours above the horizon.
Everywhere north of the equator, the day nearest that instant is the shortest of the year and its night the longest. Near the solstice, the Sun's noon height changes so little from one day to the next that the days on either side are only seconds longer, which is where the name comes from: Latin for "sun standing still".
When it happens
The December solstice falls on December 21 or 22 in UTC in most years. Because the instant is the same everywhere, the local date depends on your time zone. The US Naval Observatory gives 20:50 UTC on December 21, 2026. That is still December 21 across the Americas and Europe, but already December 22 in Asia and Australia.
| City | Local date and time | Offset |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | Mon, Dec 21, 12:50 (12:50 p.m.) | UTC-8 |
| New York, Toronto | Mon, Dec 21, 15:50 (3:50 p.m.) | UTC-5 |
| London, Reykjavik | Mon, Dec 21, 20:50 (8:50 p.m.) | UTC+0 |
| Berlin, Oslo | Mon, Dec 21, 21:50 (9:50 p.m.) | UTC+1 |
| New Delhi | Tue, Dec 22, 02:20 (2:20 a.m.) | UTC+5:30 |
| Tokyo | Tue, Dec 22, 05:50 (5:50 a.m.) | UTC+9 |
| Sydney | Tue, Dec 22, 07:50 (7:50 a.m.) | UTC+11 |
The instant moves by about six hours a year and jumps back after each leap day, so the local date shifts too. In 2027 the solstice comes at 02:42 UTC on December 22, which is still the evening of December 21 in New York. In 2048 it comes at 05:02 UTC on December 21, which is December 20 in Los Angeles. To see the 2026 instant in your own time, convert 20:50 UTC with our time zone converter.
How short the day gets
How short depends almost entirely on latitude. The further north, the steeper the drop. These are the US Naval Observatory's sunrise and sunset times for December 21, 2026, in local time.
| City | Latitude | Sunrise | Sunset | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 40.7° N | 07:17 (7:17 a.m.) | 16:32 (4:32 p.m.) | 9 h 15 min |
| Toronto | 43.7° N | 07:48 (7:48 a.m.) | 16:44 (4:44 p.m.) | 8 h 56 min |
| London | 51.5° N | 08:04 (8:04 a.m.) | 15:53 (3:53 p.m.) | 7 h 49 min |
| Berlin | 52.5° N | 08:15 (8:15 a.m.) | 15:54 (3:54 p.m.) | 7 h 39 min |
| Oslo | 59.9° N | 09:18 (9:18 a.m.) | 15:12 (3:12 p.m.) | 5 h 54 min |
| Reykjavik | 64.1° N | 11:22 (11:22 a.m.) | 15:29 (3:29 p.m.) | 4 h 07 min |
| Sydney | 33.9° S | 05:41 (5:41 a.m.) | 20:05 (8:05 p.m.) | 14 h 24 min |
| Buenos Aires | 34.6° S | 05:37 (5:37 a.m.) | 20:06 (8:06 p.m.) | 14 h 29 min |
Reykjavik's numbers show another oddity: its sunrise and sunset are centered on about 1:26 p.m., not noon, because Iceland keeps UTC+0 although it lies well west of Greenwich. Each city page on this site shows that day's sunrise, sunset and the time the Sun is highest.
Further north the day disappears altogether. Just north of the Arctic Circle (about 66.6° N) the Sun still shows briefly at noon, because the atmosphere bends its light over the horizon. From about 67.4° N northward it does not rise at all on the solstice. In Tromsø, Norway, at almost 70° N, the Sun stays below the horizon from about late November to mid January. Our guide to the midnight sun and polar night maps where and when.
Days get longer, but mornings get darker
After the solstice the days lengthen, but slowly at first. In London, December 22 is about 1 second longer than December 21, and December 23 about 7 seconds longer again. By January 1, 2027 the day has gained around 6 minutes; by January 14, about 29 minutes. The gain speeds up toward the March equinox, when London adds close to 4 minutes a day.
Those early gains all come in the afternoon. London's earliest sunset, about 3:51 p.m., falls around December 12 or 13, more than a week before the solstice. Its latest sunrise, about 8:06 a.m., comes around December 30 or 31, so the mornings keep getting darker for more than a week after the shortest day. The cause is the equation of time: in December, solar noon drifts later by about 30 seconds a day, dragging both sunrise and sunset with it. Why the earliest sunset comes before the solstice explains the mechanism, and sunrise, sunset and day length covers the whole year.
Southern hemisphere
In Sydney, Buenos Aires, Cape Town and Auckland, the December solstice is the summer solstice and the longest day of the year. Sydney gets 14 hours and 24 minutes of daylight on December 21, almost twice London's, and the Sun there sets after 8 p.m. because Australia's southeastern states are on daylight saving time. Their winter solstice, the shortest day, comes in June, which in 2026 fell at 08:24 UTC on June 21.
Count down to the solstice
To count down to the shortest day itself, set the countdown to December 21 at 00:00. To count down to the exact astronomical moment, first convert 20:50 UTC into your own time zone (3:50 p.m. in New York, 8:50 p.m. in London), then enter that local time; the countdown runs on your device's clock. The date calculator tells you how many days are left, and the world clock shows where it is still daylight when your own sun has set.
Set the countdown for 20:50 UTC on December 21, converted to your time, and from that moment every day in the north gets a little longer.
Frequently asked questions
Is December 21 always the shortest day of the year?
Not always. The solstice falls on December 21 or 22 in UTC in most years, and it can be December 20 in the Americas in some years, such as 2048. In 2026 it is December 21 in Europe and the Americas and December 22 in Asia and Australia.
How much longer are the days after the winter solstice?
Only seconds a day at first. London gains about 6 minutes of daylight between December 21 and January 1, and about 29 minutes by mid January.
Why does it still get dark early after the solstice?
The evenings actually start getting lighter about a week before the solstice. It is the mornings that keep getting darker until around the turn of the year, because solar noon drifts later through December.
Is the winter solstice the coldest day?
No. Temperatures lag behind daylight because ground and water take weeks to cool, so in most mid and high latitudes the coldest weeks come after the solstice.
Every date, offset and calculation on this page was checked against the sources below.